Maybe You Should Just Drop Out
by Punk Trash Noiz
Summary: You're starting a new school, and you have every intention of just making it through the rest of high school without having to interact much with anyone. The last thing you were expecting was for a group of some of the most extra people you'd ever met to take a liking to you. Is it too late to switch schools? High school AU, 2nd person POV (the reader is the main character)


You walked into the office of the high school feeling somewhat out of place. The amount of change happening in your life was honestly overwhelming to you. It was hard enough to move in with your Aunt, since you barely knew her, but now you were starting at a new school. You weren't as upset as other people might be, since you couldn't say you were particularly attached to anyone at your old school. But at least it had been familiar, unlike this place. You weren't exactly thrilled about having to learn the layout of a new school, and get used to new people. It didn't help that you were starting this school a month into the school year, either. Still, you were determined to just keep your head down and do your work. All you had to do was get through 3 years of this, and then you could go off to college and begin the rest of your life.

You were relieved that it didn't take too long for you to get your schedule. You walked through the office building and looked at your schedule while you walked. Apparently this school did block scheduling on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so today you would only have periods 1, 3, and 5, and you'd have the rest tomorrow. That would take some getting used to. For now, perhaps you should explore the school to figure out which building was which? You checked your phone and saw you still had 20 minutes until first period, so you had the time. With your mind made up, you approached the doors to exit the office building. Right when you were reaching to open the door, it was flung open dramatically by someone on the other side.

You stared in shock at the boy in front of you. His hair was very blonde, and his name brand clothes were very flashy. You supposed it was just your luck to run right into a fuckboy.

"Are you just going to stand there all day? You're in my way," the fuckboy said in a huffy tone. You rolled your eyes at him.

"You're in my way too, you know," and here you go, getting yourself into a pointless argument with a pointless person. So much for keeping your head down.

"Did you really just talk to me like that?! Don't you know who I am?" he demanded.

"Uh, no? This is literally my first day at this school. I also really don't care," you responded in a bored tone. "I don't have time for this."

You pushed past him while ignoring his words of outrage. This guy was entirely too full of himself, and you really didn't have the energy to deal with it. You focused on exploring the school and figuring out where each of your classes was. Now that you knew where you needed to be at each point during the day, you felt a lot better. With only a couple minutes to spare, you made your way back to the location of your first class, Honors Biology.

You figured you should go inside and talk to the teacher before the class started. After all, you had no clue if there was a seating chart, and if there was work you needed to make up. The syllabus could be entirely different than what you were working on at your old school.

You walked into the classroom, and immediately felt uncomfortable when you made eye contact with the teacher. There was something _very_ unsettling about them. They tilted their head slightly to the side as they looked at you.

"Um, hi, I'm the new student?" you'd never felt this uncertain before while talking to a teacher.

"Oh, yes, I know who you are. I'm Dr. Valdemar. Here's the course syllabus. Seeing as it is the middle of the week, you do not have to worry about the homework. However, starting Monday you will be expected to turn it in. My TA will assist you in understanding where we are in the material," they spoke in such a detached way. You definitely were not liking this at all. The bad vibes got even worse when they smiled a downright creepy smile. "You arrived just in time to participate in our first dissection on Friday. You're very lucky."

Ooookay. You just had nothing to say to that. Seriously, what the actual fuck was wrong with this person? You silently took the syllabus, and barely registered Dr. Valdemar telling you which desk was yours. You sat down and pretended to read the syllabus, but really you just wanted to avoid making any more eye contact with Dr. Creepy. Were there other schools in this area you could transfer to? Because so far you'd found zero reasons to like this one.

"I've never seen someone concentrate so hard on the syllabus before," a voice interrupted your thoughts, and you quickly looked up.

"Wow, you're tall," today was just a day for words to come out of your mouth without you thinking about it at all, apparently.

"Ah, yes, I guess I am," the tall guy agreed, smirking at you and running a hand through his red hair. "I'm Julian, the TA for this class? Dr. Valdemar wanted me to get you up to speed."

Right, you'd sort of immediately forgotten that you were supposed to talk to the TA. You narrowed your eyes at him, and asked, "Can you sit down? It's awkward talking to you with you towering over me."

Julian laughed and sat down next to you. "Is this better?"

You smiled at him and nodded. "Much better. So, if you're a TA I'm guessing you're a senior?"

"I'm a junior, actually. I just happened to do very well in this course when I took it," he explained, winking at you. "So if you have any questions, you can always come to me."

"Will do, since I wouldn't want to bother the teacher," you muttered, glancing quickly over at Dr. Valdemar, who was luckily not looking over at the two of you.

Julian nodded in understanding. "They are, well, quite intense. You'll learn a lot in this class, though."

Well, that was something at least. Julian gave you a quick run through of what material had already been covered, and what the class was currently learning. Luckily, the class seemed to be at about where your old class had been at. You could only hope it would be that way for all your classes.

Once the class actually started, you busied yourself with taking notes. Whenever you started getting bored and wanted to space out, you would doodle in the margins to keep yourself focused on the present. It was all too easy for you to get lost in your head, and you definitely wanted to avoid that. The class went by soon enough, and the second the bell rang you were out of your seat. You didn't want to stay in the classroom longer than you had to. You waved a quick goodbye to Julian, and headed off to your next class.

Your next class was English, which shouldn't be too hard. Essays were easy enough for you to write, all you had to do was write some bullshit but make it sound nice. You once again went through the process of talking to the teacher, and found out that the class had just started doing group projects. Well, that was just great. You absolutely hated that kind of thing. You would much rather just work by yourself, honestly. You asked if you could, but sadly you were shot down and told to join two people named Asra and Portia. You awkwardly slunk over to the two that the teacher pointed to. They were quite distinctive, with one having fluffy white hair and the other having curly red hair (wow, this was the second redhead you were meeting today).

"Uh, hey, apparently I'm in your group," you said to them, and you proceeded to introduce yourself

"It's nice to meet you! I'm Portia," the red haired girl grinned at you. You smiled back, feeling a little more at ease due to her friendly demeanor.

"I'm Asra," his smile was a lot smaller, but seemed no less genuine.

The two of them explained the project to you, which was related to the current book the class was reading (Macbeth). The three of you had to pick a scene and record yourselves acting it out. Apparently you could also have people from outside the class help, and they assured you they had some friends that would be more than willing. You also got invited to sit with them at lunch, which was rather nice of them. You weren't sure if you would, because you didn't exactly plan on joining a friend group. Then again, did you really want to be that loner sitting by themselves at lunch for the next three years? Better to at least give these people a chance. It wasn't like you had to actually hangout with them outside of school, with the exception of the project.

The class went by quickly, between making plans for the project, and then the class having to spend time reading the play. Before you knew it, it was already lunchtime. Portia linked her arm through yours and started leading you to the cafeteria, which meant that you were going to be sitting with her and her friends whether you liked it or not. She and Asra led you to a table that had four people sitting there, and you were surprised to see you recognized two of them.

"Hey guys, I made a new friend! They're a new student here," Portia excitedly told the group. She introduced you to them, and you forced yourself to smile and wave. Portia continued talking. "That's my brother, Julian."

"Oh, I've already had the pleasure of meeting them," he told his sister. He smiled at you. "Good to see you again."

Before you could respond to him, the other person you recognized spoke up. "Hey, I know you! You're the rude one who pushed past me in the office this morning."

Well, this was just great. You had no desire to interact with this guy at all. "You're the one who came at me sideways, dude. I don't know what you want from me," you defended yourself.

"I want an apology!" the blond brat demanded. The girl next to him rolled her eyes and smacked his shoulder.

"Lucio, leave them alone. Do you really need to be harassing a new student?" she said. She turned to look at you. "Please, just ignore him. My name is Nadia."

She held out a lovely manicured hand, and you awkwardly shook it. Well, at least she seemed nice, though you had to admit she was slightly intimidating. She had an aura of such confidence, unlike most of the awkward teenagers here. Her long, purple hair was elegantly braided, which just added to her look of refinement.

You finally looked over at the last person, and wow. You'd thought Julian was tall, but this guy was a beast! He had dark hair, and a big, bulky body. He looked down at the table and refused to meet your eyes. You saw how he sat at a distance from everyone else, and you honestly felt for him. Poor dude seemed like he didn't love social interaction at all. What a mood.

"This is Muriel," Asra spoke up, and gave the big guy a fond smile. "Don't be offended if he doesn't talk to you too much. It takes him a while to warm up to people."

Asra sat down between Muriel and Julian. Portia sat down across from them, next to Nadia and Lucio. She patted the spot next to her, and you sat down. You were beyond grateful to have two people between you and Lucio. The only downside was that Portia seemed to really enjoy talking, and she was determined to get to know you better.

You noticed that nobody seemed to be getting in line to get food. Uh, did none of these people eat? You'd believe it from lanky Julian and slight Asra, but Portia had some healthy weight to her, and there was no way a dude as big as Muriel didn't eat. You understood a couple minutes later though, when Lucio looked at his phone and grinned.

"The UberEats is pulling into the parking lot!" he declared triumphantly. "C'mon Jules, help me carry the food."

Julian looked disgruntled, but he didn't argue. You watched as they walked over to the gate and waved over a guy carrying bags from McDonald's. Jesus, these people really had the money to buy that much food off UberEats? Must be nice. Well, you'd have to settle for whatever the cafeteria was offering, and pray that it wouldn't give you food poisoning.

"Hey, what are they gonna eat?" Portia demanded, gesturing to you as Lucio and Julian set down the bags.

"Ugh, how should I know? I didn't even know this rando would be sitting with us," Lucio scowled.

"It's fine, I don't need anything," you told Portia. You didn't bother saying anything to Lucio.

"Well, we can't in good conscience let you starve," Julian said with a frown. "Or worse, eat from the cafeteria!"

He grabbed a box of nuggets that was positioned between him and Asra and slid it over to you.

"Whoa, no, I'm not taking your food," you tried to hand it back but he shook his head.

"We still each have a burger, we'd just been planning to share the nuggets because we love food," Asra assured you.

"Please, my dear, we want you to eat," Julian said with a wink. You felt yourself flushing at the kindness of these people who were basically total strangers.

"Um, okay, if you're sure," you mumbled. "Thank you."

"You can share my soda. I promise I don't have herpes or anything," Portia told you. "I'm not Lucio."

"Hey! It was mono, not herpes!" Lucio whined. Everyone at the table either sighed, or face-palmed. Well, at least you weren't the only one who got annoyed by him. Was he just the sugar daddy of the friend group?

Lunch passed by quickly, with everyone eating and talking (or just eating, in Muriel's case). You found yourself not really minding this whole situation as much as you'd thought you would. These people were a lot to handle, but they seemed pretty nice. Maybe you could handle sitting with them all the time? In any case, you were actually disappointed when lunch ended. You were even more disappointed when you realized your last class of the day was PE.

Your mood brightened slightly when Portia asked what you had next, and you discovered she was in that class too. Your mood dropped again, though, when you learned Lucio was as well.

"Wait, but isn't he a junior...?" you'd learned during lunch that Lucio, Nadia, Julian and Muriel were juniors, while Portia and Asra were sophomores like yourself.

"He failed the class last year," Portia responded with a shrug as the two of you went to the locker room.

You wondered how in the world he failed PE. You weren't a master athlete, but you still passed easily enough. As long as you made the bare minimum effort, they would pass you. Well, whatever, you didn't really care.

You realized you hadn't been given any gym clothes, nor did you have any type of running shoes with you. You looked down dubiously at your converse. You supposed they'd get the job done, it just wasn't entirely comfortable. Still, you should probably talk to the teacher? You approached them and explained your situation, and were relieved to find out that you didn't have to participate today. You'd apparently get clothes at the end of the class, and you just had to make sure to bring appropriate shoes on Friday.

"Ugh, you're soooo lucky," Portia complained. "Maybe I should pretend to be sick?"

You almost hoped she would, so she could keep you company. However, she decided against it, so you made your way over to sit on the bleachers by yourself. You had barely just sat down when someone approached you. You held back a sigh as Lucio walked over to the bleachers.

"Oh, it's you," he said, scowling at you. You saw he was still dressed in the same clothes he'd been wearing all day.

"What are you doing over here?" you asked him, somehow managing to keep a neutral tone.

He rolled his eyes at the question, but at this moment, his annoyance didn't seem to be directed at you. "I refuse to wear those gross, ugly gym clothes, so they won't let me work out."

"Oh my god, is that how you failed in PE last year?" you asked incredulously.

"It's all their fault! If they'd just let me wear my own clothes, there wouldn't be a problem," he complained as he sat down next to you. Uh, what the fuck? You didn't exactly want to spend the next two hours sitting with him. He was oblivious to your discomfort, and just kept on talking. "I'm actually a great athlete, you know? I could outrun anyone else in this class! It's so unfair they keep making me sit out. What's so important about the stupid uniform anyway?"

"I guess they don't want people sweating in their clothes and then walking around the rest of the day all gross?" you said with a shrug, since he seemed to actually be expecting a reply from you.

"I have clothes to work out in, they just won't let me wear them," Lucio whined. "As long as I have workout clothes, why does it even matter if they're school issued or not?"

That... actually wasn't the most illogical thing he had ever said. "You've got a point," you admitted. "But why do schools do any of the things they do? Half the rules never make any sense."

Lucio grinned at your words. "See, you understand me! You know, maybe you're not so bad after all. I think we'll be good friends."

Oh, no, that was the last thing you'd wanted. Still, if he was going to be in your life, it was probably better to get along with him. You didn't really want him hating your guts if you'd have to interact with him on a daily basis. Fine, he wins this one. You were going to stoop so low as to be friends with a douchebag.

Since Lucio loved the sound of his own voice, he did most of the talking, which suited you well enough. You responded when prompted, but otherwise just let him chatter away for the next couple hours. At least you were able to learn a lot about your new friends, though Lucio's opinions were probably incredibly biased. He seemed to have a thing for Nadia, but it was unclear if they were actually a couple or not? They only seemed to hook up when they were drunk, from the sounds of it. Lucio had apparently hit on basically everyone else in the friend group, which was a little interesting. You were used to fuckboys just being straight, but Lucio seemed to be attracted to anyone and anything.

"And, like, Jules and Asra are kinda a thing, or were a thing, who the hell knows with those two," Lucio kept gossiping to you. "And there's totally some unresolved tension with Asra and Muriel. Who knows if they'll ever act on it though. Oh, and Noddy and Portia get all flirty sometimes, which is kinda hot."

If even half of all this was true, it sounded like everyone all had things for each other. And nobody was straight. That was kind of nice that you'd gravitated right towards your fellow gays. Well, you supposed you couldn't fault them for all liking each other. After all, though you had spent all day pointedly ignoring it, you weren't entirely unaware of how damn attractive they all were. Seriously, how could a group of people all look so different yet all be so hot? It was kind of unfair.

"Anyway, I think you'll fit right in, with how cute you are," Lucio was still fucking talking, and wait, _what_? He was grinning at you again, and you felt your face turn red at his comment. Ugh, you so weren't used to people saying that kind of thing to you.

"So how long have you all known each other?" you decided to just change the subject. Lucio's smirk told you that he knew what you were doing, but apparently he wasn't enough of a dick to actually call you out.

You half-listened to him talk as you watched Portia jog around the track. As she passed by you, she waved at you and winked. You waved back and smiled at her. She was kind of super adorable.

You were super glad when the class ended. Sure, it was a relief that Lucio had decided to be nice to you, but damn was he a lot to deal with. Luckily, he said his goodbyes rather quickly once the bell rang, and he hurried off somewhere. You stuck around and waited for Portia to finish changing. Her face lit up when she left the locker room and saw you waiting for her.

"Aww, you didn't have to stick around!" she told you. "Where are you getting picked up at?"

"Oh, I'm taking the bus home," you told her.

"Do you want a ride? I'm sure Julian wouldn't mind!" she offered. You considered it for a second, but then shook your head. You didn't want to inconvenience Julian. Portia looked like she wanted to push it, but she didn't. "Well, Asra and Muriel take the bus, so I'm sure you can sit with them!"

That sounded nice. You weren't used to having friends to sit with on the bus. You and Portia walked to the parking lot together, and before you parted ways, she exchanged phone numbers with you. You couldn't help but smile at seeing her name in your phone. You said your goodbyes to her, and then headed to the bus stop. It was easy to find Muriel and Asra, since Muriel towered over everyone else. You weaved your way through the crowd of students and made your way over to them.

"Hey," Asra greeted you with his usual small but kind smile. "You're taking the bus too?"

"Yeah, I'm not old enough to drive yet, and my aunt is too busy to pick me up," you said.

"I understand, my parents are usually very busy too. You're welcome to sit with me and Muriel."

You looked questioningly at Muriel to confirm he was fine with this, and he nodded once. Well, alright, that was good enough for you. The bus pulled up and everyone started piling on. You were surprised that the back was left empty, but then you saw Muriel and Asra confidently sit down there. You supposed everyone was too intimidated by Muriel to try taking the seat. Well, it worked out well since the very back was the only place on the bus the three of you would have space to sit together.

"So, do you have time this weekend to work on the group project?" Asra asked you. "Everyone else is free then."

"I have to work a few hours each day, but I'm sure I can make time," you answered after a moment of consideration.

"You have a job?" Asra seemed a bit surprised.

"My aunt owns a small store, and I have to help her run it," you explained. "I don't mind, it's not like I really have much else to do."

It wasn't like you'd expected to make friends. You wondered if seeing them outside of school would just be a one time thing or not. At this point, you weren't sure if that was something you still wanted. Still, it was best not to get too attached so soon. One day of interactions didn't necessarily mean anything. They could all decide you were boring, and then where would you be? It was definitely best to not let them in too much, just in case. In the mean time, though, you'd enjoy having people to talk to.

"So, are you going to be in the video?" you asked Muriel, who seemed shocked at actually being addressed by you.

"...No," he muttered. "Just gonna film it."

"Lucky you," you sighed. "I hate seeing myself on camera."

Asra laughed. "I'm sure you'll be fine. At least you know you won't be as obnoxious as Lucio."

"I don't think anyone could be as bad as him," you agreed. "He's decides that he doesn't hate me anymore. I almost wish he still did, so then he wouldn't have spent two hours talking nonstop."

"Maybe you should try to make him mad at you again?" Asra teased.

"Trust me, I'm definitely tempted," you groaned.

"It won't work."

You looked at Muriel in surprise, and his face turned red. He looked away from you and spoke again. "Can't get rid of him once he likes you."

"You're definitely not wrong," Asra agreed. He seemed pleased that Muriel was participating in the conversation. Asra looked at you again and then asked to see your phone. You unlocked it with your fingerprint and passed it over, and you watched him enter his contact information, and Muriel's too. He then sent himself a text so he would have your number.

Wow, now you had three new numbers in your phone. You doubted you would actually text any of them, except maybe to confirm the day and time of the meetup to do the group project. Still, it felt nice to actually have the option to text people. That was definitely a first.

You almost missed your stop, since you were unfamiliar with the area, but you got off just in time. You were glad that you didn't have to work today. Instead, you just went and laid on your bed and reflected on your day. Your first day of school was definitely unexpected. The people you had met were all very interesting, and they seemed determined to bring you into their group. Only time would tell if real friendships would be formed or not. In the meantime, though, you were definitely curious to see what the next day would bring.


End file.
